An information processing apparatus including: a sonic sensor that outputs a sonic wave and receives a reflected wave of the output sonic wave; and a control unit configured to determine whether a person exists on a periphery of the information processing apparatus based on distance data and background data, wherein the distance data indicates intensity of a reflected wave in fixed time units received by the sonic sensor during a predetermined period of time after a sonic wave is output from the sonic sensor, the fixed time units being obtained by dividing the predetermined period of time, and the background data is past distance data prepared in advance.